Friday, April 30, 2010

Jim loves to tease me about this, too. I grew up with an artist dad and a secretary mama. Every single remotely athletic gene was piled on to my oldest brother, Matt. He loves (and excels at) all kinds of outdoor sports. Biking, rock climbing, kayaking, you name it. Even extreme unicycling. So cool, right??

Needless to say, I didn't get any of those genes. I love playing a casual game of volleyball or frisbee. I enjoy hiking and that kind of thing, but physical intelligence eludes me. And don't get me started on the trend of running marathons and all that... eesh! Running for fun makes about as much sense to me as screamo music. (I know, I know, there are lots of people who really enjoy this and that's great!) Jim will toss me my keys, I miss horribly and, "Craft family athletics!" he snickers.

Anyway! All that to say, I've done a very sub-par job of caring for my back lately. I lift James incorrectly. I don't exercise. We do walk around the neighborhood every day, but that's about it. I am absolutely ravaging my lower back. And I'm only 25! This week was the end of it.

On Monday, I started a gentle back strengthening and posture-improving work out. I basically searched on the internet and stuck a bunch of exercises together. The first 3 days I was pretty sore, of course, but today I can honestly say that my back feels AMAZING. I've been consciously lifting with my legs and James and I have been taking longer and more brisk walks.

Watch. I'll be all excited about a 5K that I'm running this time next year... riiiiight.

Here's what I've been doing: (Ok, don't make fun. Especially you P90Xers. I know these are old people exercises.)

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

is a crawling MACHINE. I love hearing the "slap, slap, slap!" of his hands on our hardwood.

climbs up my legs, if I'm standing, or up me, if I'm sitting, so I'll pick him up.

loves when we crawl-chase him. He squeeeeeeals and giggles and crawls away as fast as he can when we say, "IIIII'm a-gonna getchu!" He gets all silly and out of breath and it makes me fall in love with him all over again.

is getting really good at pulling up, but not quite sure yet about cruising along the edges of furniture.

is starting to squat down slowly instead of just plopping onto his hynie. Or, thankfully, instead of falling onto his head.

loves cheese. But after a few - ahem - difficult diapers, we had to drastically cut back on the cheddar intake.

has some favorite toys: drums sticks (to his dad's delight), the kitchen broom, and his tricycle that he probably won't be able to ride for a few years. He just pushes it around the dining room for now.

is saying every consonant-a sound possible EXCEPT ma-ma. It doesn't bother me. No really... I promise. Only when I look at him and say, "James. Ma-ma-ma." And he looks at me, smiles and says, "Da-da-da-da-da-da!" Ha. Yes, very funny.

gets a kick out of seeing himself in the mirror.

gets really upset when Jim leaves for work in the morning. He crawls as fast as he can to Jim's office, comes back out, looks at me, and cries. So pitiful.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

James isn't crazy about riding in his car seat, but he's become pretty chill about it as he can entertain himself with his toys and mirror and sippy cups. I'm excited for him to be forward-facing, but I don't want to compromise his safety for a little less fussiness. He's still rear-facing and it looks like we're going to stay that way for a while.

In April 2009, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP - you know, they're the "They" in "They say...") declared that rear-facing car seats are safer for infants and toddlers. They say that toddlers ages 12-23 months are 75% less likely to experience serious injury or die than forward facing peers. Um, that's a big percentage. And it makes sense. Rear-facing seats are designed to absorb the impact of a crash and distribute it to the strongest parts of a small person's body.

Some say, "Well, I don't want their little legs to be crushed."

Actually, that's unlikely to happen. And, as horrible as it sounds, if I had to choose between broken legs or massive neck and/or head injury, well...... ok, then.

Or, "He'd be so much happier if he could see where he's going forward-facing."

**Update: Just to be clear, the rear-facing seat in this video is in the front seat for a comparison shot only. Also, the video stops before you see the inevitable whiplash of the dummy in the rear-facing seat (an unfortunate editing choice). Of course whiplash can happen in rear-facing, but it's secondary to the impact and not nearly as forceful as forward-facing whiplash**

Friday, April 9, 2010

Crawling is pretty much the primary mode of transportation. I love watching his chubby legs working hard with his soft marshmallowy arms, going into and out of every room in the house. He had a blast exploring the Ft. Lauderdale airport.

His little hands, gripping, picking up things, touching delicately with a pointed index finger, waving, clapping, clawing and pinching (not such a favorite), and more recently, stroking faces.

And OH, the smiles! The giggles and squeals and loud-squeaky-throat-sucking-in-thing that he thinks is hilarious (it is). When we dance and sing, his legs start kicking and he claps and smiles. Outside is the place to be for this little man.

I could go on, but he's awake now from his hour and 20 minute nap... another one of my favorite 9-month-old things...

I am a homemaker, married to a handsome-brave-and-strong-pastor man who works extremely hard every single day. This blog is dedicated to illuminating the funnies, the sadnesses, and the adventures of our life in light of God's overwhelming grace. I'm in love with my Savior, the Redeemer of my soul and want so desperately to be more like Him. I am abnormally happy in my little life and love to do silly, useless things like write on blogs.